Nova Scotia storm causes washouts, flooding for parts of Cape Breton

A strong fall storm that blew through Halifax on Monday night has hammered parts of Cape Breton with rain, triggering some floods and washouts.

A state of emergency was declared Tuesday night for the area of Victoria County. Residents were asked to shelter in place while officials assessed roads, many of which had been washed out.

An emergency alert was also sent out to people living in that area, as well as another county nearby, urging them to avoid travel.

Rainfall warnings remain in effect for Cape Breton, as some areas were forecast to receive up to 200 millimetres of rain. Environment Canada wrote that the rain would begin to taper off on Wednesday.

Images posted to social media show creeks and rivers filled to the brim, with water rising up onto properties in some areas. There were also power outages reported across parts of the province as winds blew infrastructure over and toppled poles.

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Tuesday’s storm also caused a flash flood around a trailer park. According to the Canadian Red Cross, 33 people were forced out of their homes as a result of that rising water.

Severe weather on the east coast came about a week after Canada’s west coast was also hit by wicked weather. In B.C., an atmospheric river caused catastrophic flooding in southern areas. The storm also damaged, at one point, all major highways leading into and out of the greater Vancouver area.